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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26408680">Seaside Rendezvous</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmAndFandems/pseuds/EmAndFandems'>EmAndFandems</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anxious Aziraphale (Good Omens), Aziraphale-centric (Good Omens), Beaches, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Happy Ending, M/M, Podfic Available, Post-Canon, Repressed Aziraphale (Good Omens), Sharing a Bed, they just want to take care of each other so bad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:01:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>919</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26408680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmAndFandems/pseuds/EmAndFandems</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The ocean is withdrawing. Aziraphale can understand that.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>106</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Seaside Rendezvous</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title from the Queen song of the same name. Podfic linked in the endnotes!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Aziraphale stares out toward the horizon. It’s almost imperceptible in the darkness, only identifiable because it’s where the faint glimmer of starlight fades into the fainter shimmer of reflection. There is no moon tonight, and just the slightest breeze to stir the water. The waves are quiet; their crash at the shore is hardly a whisper. The air smells of salt and seaweed. Beneath his feet, the sand is cool. The tide’s going out, so the beach remembers dampness. The ocean is withdrawing. Aziraphale can understand that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without realizing it, he has folded his arms. It’s a bit chilly out, late night or early morning as it is, and he’s only wearing his nightclothes, but his body language has nothing to do with the cool, wet air. He closes his eyes as he lets the gentle wind play across his hairline to carry away the sensation of stickiness. He, too, smells of salt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He draws a deep breath. Holds it. Holds it a little longer. Then lets it out, slowly, carefully, allowing the action to linger and become a moment. Another inhale, another exhale. Another moment. Again. Again. Aziraphale clings to these. They taste like sea air and interrupted sleep. This is not why they are valuable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he opens his eyes, the stars have shifted in the sky. It might not be noticeable to anyone else, to anyone with poorer eyesight or with a less comprehensive knowledge of the night’s patterns. Aziraphale has had an excellent guide to these. If he wished, he could use this shift to trace the passage of the precise amount of time he has allowed to slip away. He does not. Some things do not need to be measured. Some time has more worth uncounted. It is enough that the stars have moved. It is enough that the earth has moved beneath his feet, moving him with it, moving through space and time with its billions of passengers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sky still contains neither moon nor sun, but there is a suspicious lightness to the edge of the darkness, the horizon line Aziraphale has his eyes fixed on. Dawn is approaching. Streaks of red-gold clouds will appear soon to be doubled by the expanse of seawater below. Beautiful colors, he thinks, and is glad to find he knows why he thinks it. Pleased to be able to think it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A hand lands on Aziraphale’s arm and he startles. He turns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” says Crowley, smiling in that way he does when he’s woken before he meant to be awake, when he’s still half-lost in sleep and too drowsy to pretend to be anything but soft. “Ev’rythin’ okay, angel?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aziraphale smiles. “Yes,” he says, of course. “Yes, thank you, I’m fine. It’s all fine. Go back to sleep. Did I wake you? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t,” Crowley insists, and shakes his head. “Just felt something was… off. Different. Thought maybe something was wrong. So I rolled over to ask you but you weren’t there. What’re you doing out here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, nothing. Looking. Thinking. Really, go back in, you’ll be cold.” Aziraphale gives Crowley’s hand a squeeze where it still rests on his arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not until you come back too.” Crowley tips his head. “Bed’ll be cold now, if you’re not in it. C’mon, inside and you can tell me what’s going on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a brief moment in which Aziraphale considers saying everything. He opens his mouth. He searches for words. He closes his mouth. Eventually he says, instead, “I’m fine. Look at you, you’re shivering.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crowley </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>shivering, a little, his pyjamas even less suited to the chill than Aziraphale’s and his form significantly less insulated. “Why d’you keep saying you’re fine?” he says, rubbing his hands up and down his own arms now to prevent himself from dancing on the spot to keep warm. He pauses. He blinks, slowly, thinking things through, and Aziraphale watches him have the thought before he voices it: “You’ve had another nightmare, haven’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It would do no good to deny it.  Aziraphale wets his lips. “Yes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aziraphale,” says Crowley, and it’s amazing how many ways he can say it. This time is all tenderness. He lifts a hand to Aziraphale’s cheek and Aziraphale does not pull away. Low tide can only last so long. “Aziraphale,” Crowley says again, and this time it is a desperation, a pleading kind of helplessness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know. I’m sorry,” Aziraphale tells him, because he is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be sorry. Please don’t be sorry.” Crowley swallows. Aziraphale watches the bob of his throat, the movement of his lips. “You know I want you to tell me these things?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The way he makes it a question stings in Aziraphale’s eyes like sand. “I do know that. Of course I know that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span><em>Then why–?</em> Crowley doesn’t ask. He understands a lot of things, Aziraphale’s husband, things like star maps and plant needs and guilt. He says, “Good,” and they don’t mention all the weight that word once held.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Next time,” Aziraphale promises, and dips his head to press a kiss to the hand cupping his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” whispers Crowley, and Aziraphale isn’t sure if he means for the kiss or the promise or both or everything, but he’s pretty sure it doesn’t really matter which of those is correct.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aziraphale steps forward to wrap an arm around Crowley’s shoulders. “You’re positively frigid, dear,” he says. “Come. Shall I make us some tea, or do you just want to get back under the covers?”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! The original tumblr post can be found <a href="https://lazarusemma.tumblr.com/post/628492059893006337/aziraphale-stares-out-toward-the-horizon-its">here</a>! Leave a comment?<br/>Works inspired by this one: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26635525"><b>[Podfic] Seaside Rendezvous</b> by Arcafira</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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